United States First Circuit

In plaintiff's civil rights suit against a police officer for injuries sustained as a result of excessive force during arrest, district court's denial of the officer's motion for judgment as a matter of law and a motion for a new trial are affirmed where: 1) the officer is not entitled to qualified immunity against plaintiff's excessive force claim under section 1983, as an objectively reasonable officer would have believed that tackling plaintiff from his motorcycle and slamming him into the pavement would violate his constitutional right to be free from excessive force; 2) the officer is not entitled to qualified immunity against plaintiff's excessive force claims made under state law for precisely the same reasons that he is not entitled to qualified immunity against plaintiff's excessive force claim made under section 1983; and 3) because the jury's verdict against the officer on the excessive force claims was supported by sufficient and ample evidence in the record, a new trial is not warranted.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/25/2010
• Published 10/25/2010

Judges

• THOMPSON

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Evan C. Ouellette, Rudolph F. Miller